Main Event Day 3 | 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

01-11-2015 22:27 UTC-4

Juan Etcheverry Leads the Pack Heading Into Day 4

[user272102]

Level 18 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

The 175 players that returned to the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event started the day looking to accomplish one goal before moving on to bigger dreams. That goal was making the money and in order to do so they would have to be one of the last 119 standing. They would make the money early in the evening and it would be Juan Etcheverry who ended the day with the chip lead with 1,704,000.

The tension was high as the money bubble approached and chips were flying as Connor Drinan five-bet shoved with and was looked up by Chance Kornuth who held . Drinan didn't improve and finished in 121st place. Soon after a crazy hand would see the tournament hit the money when Arne Kern moved all in with and take the lead against Ambrose Ng's when the flop came . The turn gave Ng some flush outs as it was the . Ng would not hit the flush on the river but he would spike a set as it was the .

Etcheverry's key hand came late in the day when he doubled through Mario Puccini with the nut flush. Rounding out the top five are Chance Kornuth (1,165,000), Kevin Schulz (1,165,000), Juan Martin Pastor (930,000), and Jim Collopy (889,000). Notables that advanced to Day 4 include Rami Boukai (625,000), Pratyush Buddiga (589,000), Naoya Kihara (509,000), JC Alvarado (490,000), Jason Mercier (447,000), Jonathan Duhamel (266,000), Ole Schemion (147,000), and Shannon Shorr (135,000). One player who advanced was world-famous football star Ronaldo who ended the day with 512,000 in chips. He would win a huge pot at the end of the night when he won a race with against the of Adam Reynolds.

Daniel Negreanu would enter the day with a big stack but could never get anything going and would be eliminated in the money by Pratyush Buddiga when his jacks were dominated by Buddiga's queens. There were plenty others joining Negreanu in coming up just short of achieving their PCA dreams including Pokerstars Team Pro's Leo Margets, Bertrand Grospellier, Andre Akkari, and Liv Boeree. Others to get eliminated were Martin Finger, Jared Jaffee, Will Failla, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Mickey Petersen, Nenad Medic, Stephen Chidwick, Rep Porter, Alex Millar, and John Hennigan, George Lind, Dani Stern, Shawn Buchanan, Joe Ebanks, and Mike Leah.

The remaining 57 players will return tomorrow looking to move themselves closer to the prestigious PCA Main Event title and the $1,491,580 that comes along with it. Play will resume at noon local time on Monday for Day 4, and PokerNews will be here to provide live coverage from the time they have cards in the air until they are bagging for the night. Make sure to tune in to find out who moves on to Day 5!

Tags: Alex Millar Andre Akkari Bertrand Grospellier Daniel Negreanu Jason Mercier Jonathan Duhamel Liv Boeree Mike Leah Pratyush Buddiga Ronaldo

01-11-2015 21:47 UTC-4

Ronaldo Doubles Through Reynolds

Josh_Cahlik

Level 18 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

Ronaldo raised to 16,000 from early position and action folded over to Adam Reynolds in the small blind. He moved all in over the top and action folded back to Ronaldo. The Brazilian footballer called for his tournament life of 241,000.

Ronaldo:
Reynolds:

The board came out , keeping Ronaldo's eights out in front. He doubled to approximately 500,000 while Reynolds fell to 140,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ronaldo	500,000	380,000
Adam Reynolds	130,000	-268,000

Tags: Adam Reynolds Ronaldo

01-11-2015 20:04 UTC-4

Brecher Falls to Mercier

Josh_Cahlik

Level 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Steve Brecher got the last of his chips in against Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier before the flop. Brecher was at risk for about 125,000.

Brecher:
Mercier:

The board fell , keeping Mercier's kings in the lead. Brecher made his exit from the table and Mercier, who has been grinding a shorter stack for most of the day, is now above the average stack with 360,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jason Mercier	360,000	215,000
Steve Brecher	Busted

Tags: Jason Mercier Steve Brecher

01-11-2015 19:02 UTC-4

Negreanu Eliminated by Buddiga

Josh_Cahlik

Level 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

We arrived in time to see Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu all in and at risk for his last roughly 80,000 against Pratyush Buddiga. The hands were revealed to find Negreanu in need of help.

Negreanu:
Buddiga:

The board ran out , keeping Buddiga's ladies out in front. Negreanu was eliminated from play and Buddiga increased his stack to about 620,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pratyush Buddiga	620,000	32,500
Daniel Negreanu	Busted

Tags: Daniel Negreanu Pratyush Buddiga

01-11-2015 19:00 UTC-4

Interview: Chance Kornuth Surges to Chip Lead in Level 16

[user153906]

Level 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

When Level 16 began, Chance Kornuth was hovering around average with the money bubble approaching. Less than 90 minutes later he had busted three players and was the new chip leader with more than 700,000.

We asked the live pro how he managed to triple his stack and how this field compares to some of the others he's played around the globe.

PokerNews: You started Level 16 with around 200,000 in chips and ran it up over 700,000. Can you talk about some of the key spots where you were able to chip up?

Kornuth: Well I got really lucky with an open-ender against an overcard and a flush draw and I turned a straight. That put me up to 250K, and then I just had a lot of really good hands was handed a lot of chips ... made the nuts a ton.

They went hand-for hand a few spots before the money bubble. You already had a big stack at that point ... did you feel like that hindered your ability to abuse the bubble at all?

Just a little bit because my table was playing fast. I would have been able to play a few more hands. But I still played enough so it was a pretty good bubble for me. It’s so funny when you win so many hands with air and then lose with your good hands. But there's a lot of good ways to run good in poker. This has been a fun day so far.

How does this field compare to some of the other tournaments you play around the world?

I would say it's on par for most $10Ks — maybe even a little softer — so I think it's pretty good value. I've seen some really tough tables with a lot of clickers and kids I don't know so it's difficult to play in some spots. But I've tried to "live pro" a couple of them and see if we can keep it going (laughs).

Do you feel like that gives you an advantage with so many online qualifiers here?

Yeah, for me personally I think reading people physically is one of the stronger parts of my game so I think that definitely helps.

01-11-2015 18:36 UTC-4

An Orbit with Ronaldo

Josh_Cahlik

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Famous Brazilian footballer Ronaldo has been seated at the secondary feature table since the start of the day. He's been able to battle back against some of poker's elite and as the field is now in the money, he's scored his first ever live tournament cash. We decided to follow Ronaldo for one eight-hand orbit around the table. Here are our findings.

Stack size at orbit's start: 107,000

Hand #1: We began following Ronaldo in the big blind. Action folded around to John Patgorski on the button and he popped it up to 8,000. The small blind folded and Ronaldo came along to see a flop.

The flop came down and Ronaldo checked. Patgorski followed suit and the hit the turn. Two more checks allowed the to complete the board. Both players checked once more and Patgorski showed a winning for ace-high.

Hand #2: Patgorski opened to 8,000 from the cutoff only to have Julio Martini three-bet all in from the button for about 50,000. Ronaldo peered at his cards in the small blind and immediately shoved all of his chips into the middle of the table. The big blind and Patgorski both folded, allowing the hands to be tabled.

Ronaldo:
Martini:

Ronaldo was in a commanding position with his pocket aces. He never relented his lead through the run out and he scored the elimination. This win boosted his stack up to right around 160,000.

Hand #3: There was an early positioned raise to 8,500 and Ronaldo folded his button.

Hand #4: Patgorski raised to 8,000 and Ronaldo called from the cutoff. The rest of the table folded, leaving the two heads up to the flop. Ronaldo checked, Patgorski bet 13,000, and Ronaldo quickly ditched his cards.

Hand #5: An early positioned player made it 8,000 to go and Ronaldo folded before the flop.

Hand #6: Patgorski opened to 10,000 from under the gun and Ronaldo folded from the next seat over.

Hand #7: Ronaldo was under the gun and he folded his cards.

Hand #8: Ronaldo was in the big blind and faced a raise to 11,000. He folded.

Stack at orbit's conclusion: 142,000

This orbit kicked off with excitement as the Brazilian footballer was able to eliminate an opponent from play with pocket aces. He's cruising right along and is in good spirits, despite taking a below average stack into the break. He'll return from break with roughly 142,000 to his name.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ronaldo	142,000	35,000

Tags: Gabe Patgorski Julio Martini Ronaldo

01-11-2015 18:33 UTC-4

Pollak Coolers Price

mnuwwarah

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

We found small blind Oliver Price shoving all in for 125,000 over a bet of 55,000 from Benjamin Pollak, who was on the button. The board read , and Pollak called with a sigh shortly after getting a count. Price flipped up for a boat, but Pollak needn't have worried as he had for a better full house.

Player	Chips	Progress
Benjamin Pollak	390,000	247,000
Oliver Price	Busted

Tags: Benjamin Pollak Oliver Price

01-11-2015 17:17 UTC-4

One More to Go

mnuwwarah

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Connor Drinan busted just before the money bubble.

Chance Kornuth opened for a raise in early position and got three-bet to 25,500 by Connor Drinan in the cutoff. Kornuth came back with 55,500, and Drinan jammed for about 180,000. Kornuth called.

Kornuth:
Drinan:

Drinan couldn't find any help on the board, and Kornuth scored the knockout with queens full. The tournament is now one elimination from the money.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chance Kornuth	513,000	298,000
Connor Drinan	Busted

Tags: Chance Kornuth Connor Drinan

01-11-2015 16:03 UTC-4

Leah Eliminated by Reilly

Josh_Cahlik

Level 15 : 1,500/3,000, 400 ante

Mike Leah opened with a raise and Andrew Wayman flatted from the next seat over. Tim Reilly three-bet the action to 20,000 and it folded back to Leah who moved forward all of his blue chips for a raise totaling 76,000. Leah was left with right around 20,000 behind. Wayman folded and Reilly flat called and began to table his hand, thinking that Leah was all in.

The flop came down and Leah put in his final 20,000. The hands were both tabled to reveal that Leah found himself in a rather unfortunate set-over-set situation.

Leah:
Reilly: